Fleck wary of Bulls backlash

Cape Town - With the race for Currie Cup semi-final spots heating up a notch every week, the harder it will be for teams to grind out results and obtain precious log points.

It will be no different when the Blue Bulls entertain Western Province at Loftus on Saturday.

Both teams can ill-afford any slip-ups in the now closing stages of the round-robin phase with only four matches remaining after Saturday's clash.

The Bulls are sitting precariously in sixth spot on the Currie Cup log, five points away from the Free State Cheetahs, who currently occupy the last semi-final spot in fourth place.

However, one would think the pressure on second-placed Province would not be as great, but their backline coach, former Bok centre, Robbie Fleck thinks otherwise.

He says that no matter what the log says, the Bulls will always be dangerous opponents and believes the men from Pretoria are striving for a more attacking approach to their play, moving away from their traditional "kick and chase" principle for which they have been frequently criticised.

“They are attacking channel or two wider now. That means that our slack defending in the midfield over the last two weekends will have to be a thing of the past this Saturday,” Fleck told Wednesday’s Die Burger.

Fleck says that proof of this is in the number of tackles the Bulls opponents have had to make in recent weeks.

“The Sharks attempted around 200 tackles and the Free State in the region of 170, whereas the Bulls only had to make something like 60 tackles,” added Fleck.

Fleck maintained that even though their bitter rivals have changed their approach, the core aspect of the Bulls game plan is still to physically break down opponents’ momentum upfront, something which he says Province are still prepared for, much like the past when preparing for a North vs. South Derby.